Touch, Smell and Taste Flashcards
What is haptic perception?
Active exploration of the environment by touching and grasping objects with our hands
What is the purpose of the 4 types of receptors under the skin’s surface?
Enable us to sense pressure, texture, pattern and vibration
What are thermoreceptors?
Nerve fibers that sense hot and cold
A-delta fibers
Fast acting pain receptors and transmit initial sharp pain
C fibers
Pain receptors that transmit longer-lasting duller pain that persists after initial injury
Why does pain feel like it originates from the affected area or is felt externally even if it originates internally?
Occurs when sensory information from internal and external areas converge on the same nerve cells on the spinal cord
What is the vestibular system?
The three fluid filled semicircular canals and adjacent organs located next to the cochlea in each inner ear. Arranged in 3 orientations and studded with hair cells that detect movement of fluid when head moves or accelerates.
Olfaction
Response to the molecular structure of substances (odorant molecules) floating into the nasal cavity. Least understood of senses.
What does smell being the only sense directly connected to the forebrain indicate?
Close relationship with areas involved in emotional and social behaviour
What is the olfactory epithelium?
Mucus membrane situated along the top of the nasal cavity that contains lots of olfactory receptor neurons, which initiate the sense of smell.
What happens when there’s enough binding in the olfactory receptor neurons?
Action potentials are sent into the olfactory nerve to the brain, through the olfactory bulb.
What is the olfactory bulb?
Brain structure located above nasal cavity and beneath frontal lobes. Axons of all ORNs of a particular type converge at the glomerulus inside the bulb. The bulb then sends outputs to various parts of the brain.
What are pheromones?
Biochemical odorants emitted by other members of an organism’s species that can affect the animal’s behavior or physiology. In humans, response depends on sexuality (testosterone or estrogen based odours activate hypothalamus).
What is conditioned taste aversion?
One bad experience with a food results in an aversion to that food.
What are papillae?
Small bumps on the tongue that contain hundreds of taste buds, 50% of which are lost by age 20.
